hours passes noiselessly on, it leaves behind 

 a dewy fragrance which shall exhale before 

 the rising sun, like a universal incense, 

 making the portals of the morning sweet 

 with prophecies of the flowers which are 

 yet to bloom, and the birds whose song 

 still sleeps with the hours it shall set to 

 music. The unbroken repose of Nature, 

 born not of idleness but of the perfect 

 adjustment of immeasurable forces to their 

 task, becomes more real and comprehen- 

 sible when the darkness hides the infinitude 

 of details, and leaves only the great massive 

 effects for the eye to rest upon. While 

 men sleep, the world sweeps silently onward 

 under the watchful stars, in a flight which 

 makes no sound and leaves no trace. 

 Through the deep shadows the mountains 

 loom in solitary and awful grandeur ; the 

 wide seas send forth and recall their 

 mighty tides; the continents lie veiled in 

 rolling mists; the immeasurable universe 

 glitters and burns to the farthest outskirts 

 of space ; and yet, nestled amid this sublime 

 activity, the little flower dreams of the day, 

 64 



